Delme Parfitt: Toby Flood citing issue shows need for consistency

SO often the word consistency is held up as being key to matters of discipline in rugby union.

SO often the word consistency is held up as being key to matters of discipline in rugby union.

But while different refereeing interpretations of the game’s laws continue to drive watchers to the point of despair, sanctions handed down to players by multiple panels for dangerous tackling are adding to an increasingly deflating overall picture.

Last Tuesday night Toby Flood was cleared of making a so-called tip-tackle on Andy Goode while playing for Leicester against Worcester in the Aviva Premiership the previous Friday.

But the judgement of an independent panel chaired by the barrister Jeremy Summers was probably greeted with incredulity by Cardiff Blues.

That’s because on December 9 Arms Park scrum-half Lloyd Williams was red-carded for a reckless tip-tackle on Montpellier No.9 Benoit Paillaugue and subsequently banned for five weeks by an ERC panel sitting in Dublin.

Their decision ruled Williams out of the entire Christmas programme of games. He becomes available for his region’s final Heineken Cup pool game against Sale next weekend.

Flood? Free to carry on. Free to play for his club against the Ospreys today. Free to play for England from the start of the forthcoming Six Nations Championship.

I’ve heard cries of ‘stitch-up’ from more than a few fans this side of the Severn Bridge since, not just Blues supporters but those of other regions too. For what it’s worth, I don’t believe for a minute there was anything sinister or underhand about the process surrounding Flood.

His offence at Sixways Stadium went unpunished during the game, with not so much as a penalty being awarded. It was only picked up later on by television cameras without, it should be said, Worcester making any great fuss.

Flood was then cited by RFU officers who, had they been so inclined, could have turned a blind eye to the incident for fear of losing the player’s services in the Six Nations.

Instead, it went to a hearing, but any accusations of bias don’t stand up because the International Rugby Board now insist on neutrality among disciplinary panels. In other words, you cannot have RFU people ruling on an English player, or WRU people deciding the fate of a Welsh one.

Those who let Flood off were legal people, who would have applied the letter of rugby’s law in a completely impartial manner.

However, that doesn’t mean we have to agree with them.

I’ve looked closely at the Williams and Flood tackles and, in my view, the Blues man’s challenge was the more blatant. I don’t think it merited five weeks, three perhaps, but not five.

Flood? There are more grey areas, but he still should have had some punishment.

When he makes contact with Goode it looks innocuous. But then it all moves sideways and Goode ends up heading south into the turf, head and neck first.

Sure, others become involved by the time Goode hits the deck, but having initiated the tackle it is Flood’s responsibility to ensure Goode gets to ground safely – and that doesn’t happen. The Leicester man would have got a fortnight on the sidelines had it been up to me.

But it’s the discrepancy between the severity of sentence given to Williams and Flood that is most painful.

For one to warrant five weeks and the other nothing at all surely cannot sit well with any fair-minded rugby fan.

Disciplinary panels must of course act only on a case-by-case basis, with what’s in front of them at any given juncture their sole guide. But that’s why it’s time a central independent disciplinary body was set up to take charge of all official competitions in the northern hemisphere.

That would surely bring more uniformity to the judicial process and leave the whole thing less open to accusations of skullduggery.

Why not set up rugby’s equivalent of the Supreme Court, with a respected multi-national circle of legal minds experienced in the game’s governance to sit on cited matters across all borders?

One sport, one judiciary. That has to be the way forward, the only way cases like those of Williams and Flood can be subject to proper precedent.

Next page: Wales coach Rob Howley must do it his way

ROB Howley announces his Wales Six Nations squad on Tuesday, and it’s difficult to see how he can really put a foot wrong.

He has the scope to name an enlarged party, there are names which are going to feature and it’s tough to drop a selection clanger when there’s a list of 30-plus to divulge and only four regions from which to pick rookies.

No, it’s two weeks down the line when the pressure will really come on, not just in who he chooses to face Ireland, but how Wales fare in the tournament opener.

However, Howley has the chance to set a tone this week – and for me that should start with an emphasis on him being the man in sole charge from now until the back end of March.

Ahead of the wretched autumn campaign, caretaker boss Howley was happy to stress that Warren Gatland was still having a profound influence on team affairs despite officially being on a sabbatical with the Lions.

But while Howley would be silly not to seek the Kiwi’s counsel if he feels he needs to, I’d like to see him stamp himself on proceedings with rather more public authority than he did in November.

Whether people view him as the right man for the job is another argument, though I am convinced he is better than seven successive Test defeats would suggest.

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